Hi Guys! Hope you like this new fic, its going to be slowburn BuckyNat but for awhile it'll focus on the Stucky friendship. Please leave your opinions of the first chapter in the comment, its always helpful!

It had been 565 days since Steve Rogers had seen him, every morning he wakes up hoping today is the day he gets a lead, anything to progress his search for him, to find his best friend.

He goes to the Smithsonian Institution almost every month, to look at the same thing every time. Him. They still hadn't updated his memorial, it still read,

James Buchanan Barnes 1917-1945

But he would always be Bucky to Steve.

That wasn't why Steve visited so often, it was more to remember his version of Bucky rather than the one Hydra created, to see the archive videos of them together, happy, even in the midst of war. His best friend before he was gone. Seeing his face plastered on the walls next to his own gave him two emotions, one of happiness and one of guilt. How could he of left without finding his body? That question will always haunt him.

Steve hated days when the avengers had nothing to do, because he would just think about him and nothing else. What is he doing right now? Is he safe? Does he remember?

But today wasn't one of those days. The avengers had gathered information that there was a remaining hydra facility in Slovakia, and had agreed to include all the avengers on this mission, as they had no idea what would be inside, for all they knew there could be another experiment waiting for them.

Suiting up was such a strange event, the adrenaline was flooding through their veins, and each avenger had their own routine, whether that be listening to music and zoning out, or sparring in the gym. Steve's routine wasn't really a routine; all he would do is stare at his shield reminiscing the war, his friends, and his family. Anything of his old life.

Sure he had made new friends, him and Sam had a budding friendship but it just wasn't the same. He didn't understand what it was like in the 40s, the only people who would are all dead except for Barnes.

Once landed in Slovakia, there was only a short journey from the jet to the hydra base, long even for Steve to contemplate what would be inside,

The concrete building was set into the snowy mountain; from afar it would be difficult to even see that there was a building. The front entrance was one large concrete 12ft door. As the group split, Stark, Nat, Rhodey and Clint entered the front entrance. Whilst Steve, Sam, and Wanda went around the mountain to find another entrance. The back entrance was similar to the front but slightly less towering. Pushing the door open, a loud creaking noise filled their ears, and the thought of a quiet entrance was out the window. Entering the building, they were all surprised to find there was nobody guarding the exits or hallways. Not at all what they expected but then again they knew that there were a diminished number of hydra agents after shield fell.

"Guys, is it just me or is it feeling eerily quiet?" Starks voice came through the comms confirming that it wasn't just Steve's team coming across nobody.

A piecing loud scream filled the whole building. They definitely were not alone.

Steve and his group ran towards the scream through a dimly lit hallway reminiscent of a hospital, at the end of the hallway were 4 men with machine guns standing in front of set of doors that were bolted shut. The moment they saw Steve and his group, they started shooting.

With the blood-curdling screaming still in the background, Steve used his shield to block the bullets that came his way whilst Wanda used her powers to try and disarm them and Sam flew up to gain a height advantage. It soon became apparent that what ever was in that room, they were willing to do anything to prevent someone from entering. Without getting to close, Wanda managed to knock two of the men unconscious whilst Sam had flew above the others trying to get to the door, kicking one of the men in the face in the process. Steve was now close enough for hand-to-hand combat and used to his all his strength to knock the last guy threw the wall next to the door. Once all the men were unconscious all they could hear was the chilling scream that was still echoing through the hall. Their next objective was to enter to locked room and find where the person behind the screaming.

Steve used his shield to break the lock on the door, and then pushed them open with all his force. Once inside, the deafening scream was almost unbearable; he couldn't see the man behind the scream only the chair he was in and 4 monitors around it, as there were too many guards in the way, and what looked like scientists in white coats. The room was large with what felt like never-ending walls. The man in the chair was a good 10 meters away.

Before the team could process what was around them, the guards started to open fire and fought back. Steve used his shield to knock some of the men out whilst using his strength to push them away. They were coming at all angles and the Avengers were surrounded and outnumbered. It was at that moment when the thrumming noise of the Iron Man and War Machine suits could be heard. Doors at the other side of the large room flooded open with the rest of the avengers ready to fight. During the fight, the constant screaming in the background could still be heard. Steve could now get closer to the man in the chair but could only see his back. Trying to get round the machines to see who was in the chair and how to turn off whatever they were doing to him was a lot harder than it seemed with the man being surrounded by very angry hydra agents. Steve lunged towards them with his shield in front. The men seemed oblivious to the fact that they were fighting a super solider and was easily knocked out with a little help from Clint's arrows coming from a direction that Steve could not see. Once all of them fell to the floor, Steve's eyes immediately to the man in the chair.

As soon as he saw who was in the chair and his stomach dropped to the floor.

"Bucky?!" Steve's voice seemed detached like it wasn't even his own. Bucky was writhing in pain from whatever the machine was doing to him. The machine was attached to his face and he had restraints over all his limbs and chest, and had what looked like a mouth guard keeping him from breaking his teeth or jaw. Steve's immediate thought was to try and stop whatever they were doing him, he searched for something to switch it off but then resorted to pulling the cables out of the wall which then resulted in the machines to effectively shut down. He got closer to Bucky's body, finding it had slumped lifelessly in the chair.

"Bucky? Can you here me? Its okay now, I'm going to help"

Even though he wasn't sure if Bucky could hear him, Steve felt that he had to say something just incase, anything to try and soothe him. Whilst Steve was undoing the restraints, the rest of the avengers watched as the pair reunited not quite sure what to do. Bucky's eyes were open yet they looked empty, as Steve tried to lift him out the chair, and it made Steve's heart break even more. Carrying his lifeless body through the building was tricky, he weighed a lot more than he used to, but may be that was the metal arm, or the fact that he is now a super-solider. All Steve could think about was getting Bucky into the safety of the jet.

The jet was relatively small compared to the amount of avengers in it, it had a main deck which housed all the controls and steering along with a seat for each member, near the exit was a storage room, where all their weapons were kept, including Steve's shield.

Once inside the jet, Steve wished that there were enough space in the jet to have some sort of medic bay but he made sure that Bucky was as comfortable as possible, with a blanket covering his shivering body in one of the seats reserved for the avengers.

The journey felt like it went on forever, when the reality was it only an hour or so. When the jet had landed, Steve still felt numb. He had no idea Bucky was with Hydra; he just assumed he had escaped given the chance. There were so many unanswered questions that Steve so desperately wanted to know. How long was he there? Had he escaped and then been found? Will he be okay?